Ex-Bronydom

[Accel]

I like the show, though I try to avoid the fandom as much as I can. I don't consider myself a Brony, biggest reason because I think that's a stupid word. And to me, the series is nothing more than just another kid's cartoon I like, like the new Gravity Falls show.

I don't like fandoms in general, but Bronies still kind of baffle me. I dabbled in the fandom a little bit, but then I kept away from it when I saw how seriously Bronies take the show. I never understood all the fascination with Derpy or the background ponies, the large amounts of fanfics and fanart, the essay-long in-depth analyses of characters and episodes, or the entire existence of Bronycon. Oh, and the shipping. I realize every fandom has shipping, but I've never seen it so prevalent and taken so seriously in a series that doesn't warrant it in the slightest.

All the various memes have been beaten into the ground so much that I groan every time I see or hear the phrase "20% cooler." And I am with everyone else who finds the various pony-picture spamming to be incredibly annoying.

As for the show itself, I pretty much fell out of it maybe halfway through the 2nd season and still haven't watched the rest of it, though I suppose I'll get back into it evenetually. Frankly, I'm actually happy to be ignorant of any more memes or jokes that may have popped up since then. Maybe when the show's done and the Brony-fad dies down a bit, I'll go back and finish the rest of it.

 

[BeeGeenie]

I think I'll always consider myself a brony, in that I'll always consider it a good show, but I don't consider it that big a deal. There's plenty of other things to do and to like, and I'm not one to wrap up my entire identity with that sort of thing.
Is a fan of "Star Trek" any less a trekkie if he hasn't seen the show in a while, and hasn't been to a con wearing a red shirt and vulcan ears?
There are different degrees of Trekkiedom, and different degrees of Bronydom, and good and bad in all fandoms.

 

[Threeseventyfive]

The fanbase is so big, that it's inevitable that a few people in it will be vocal, annoying assholes.

Don't try to deny who you truly are because of them.

Instead, be one of the good ones, just like the vast majority of bronies.

 

[Filiecs]

I haven't left them because I haven't found the community any different than humanity, and there is no way in hell I'd disassociate myself with that. The only thing that matters to me is that I stay true to my personal ideals of love & toleration without hypocrisy.

Judging any group based off a few people may be reasonable at times, but it sure as hell isn't logical.

 

[Saviordd1]

People talk about this like it's a huge deal. It really, really isn't.

This.
Bronies have furry syndrome, where they think everyone gives a crap about what they do and believe.

We don't, go watch your show, we really don't care.

 

[scorptatious]

As a brony, I still love the show, but I haven't been really been active with the brony community as of late. Not because I don't want to be a part of them, it's just I didn't really feel like posting in the fan group here on the Escapist very much.

snip

People actually took Cupcakes seriously? Huh. I just saw it as dark humor and an interesting take on Pinkie Pie's character.

 

[Giftfromme]

used to be bronies

God i hate that word. and i really wish people would stop using it to describe all mlp fans. bronies are the weird sick side of the fan base that have built up a horrible reputation in general. there are plenty of normal people who enjoy the show.
ALL BRONIES ARE PEOPLE WHO WATCH MLP. ALL PEOPLE WHO WATCH MLP ARE NOT BRONIES.

Bronies are people too! As a fully fledges brony and absoulte lover of the show and all things Brony related, I find it a bit insulting that you say "normal people" enjoy the show. This discrimination against Bronies must stop etc Brony power!

 

[C. Cain]

People talk about this like it's a huge deal. It really, really isn't.

This.
Bronies have furry syndrome, where they think everyone gives a crap about what they do and believe.

We don't, go watch your show, we really don't care.

You certainly like to paint with broad brushes, don't you?
Making sweeping generalisations about not one but two communitiesAlthough the definition of what precisely constitutes a member of either community is rather vague.
That's especially true for the latter. It apparently encompasses a plethora of possibly contradicting interests. And their only common feature appears to be the anthropomorphisation of animals to such varying degrees that it barely qualifies as a single community. in a single sentence is quite impressive.

And I'm glad you let us know how much you don't care. You even emphasised your utter apathy by going out of your way to post in this thread.

Oh and lest I imply something I didn't intend to; I actually concur with the assessment that MLP is by no means a huge deal in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

I'm on the verge of falling out of the group.

I wasn't part of the initial inception of bronies, but I was pretty early. I joined at about episode 5 I think, and found it through 4chan, so I do consider myself one of the first few.

However, what I think most people don't get now is it always had a massive sense of irony about it. Yes we did like the show, but we never took it too seriously, it was almost a massive injoke, and for that reason everything we could come up with was A-ok.

And now it's turning into the new sonicfags fandom. It's reached too great a point, and far far too many people take it way too seriously. I have a friend who got into it at the back end of season two, so is pretty newblood, and he decided he doesn't want to watch totalbiscuit anymore as he insulted bronies (for the record, I would say don't watch him anyway because he's an unfunny prick, but that's just me). My god that made me facepalm so hard. We watch a show about fluffy pink and rainbow ponies, don't take it so seriously, if someone makes fun of you, shrug it off.

Then you have the endless numbers of mary-sues, all of them having their own little crappy story, all of them seemed to be shipped with fluttershy or rainbowdash. I would say it's creepy, but I think it passed that point long ago.

I can honestly say the last genuine time the community made me laugh was good old Hoppip. He happened to share a lot of the views I did, and some of you might remember him for the Lyra plushie. That to me was hilarious, and a real hark back to the old 4chan days, back when it was a fun little joke, something that never was meant to be taken seriously. But of course, the vast majority of bronies said it was an outrage.

And for those who just overuse it, the terms "love and tolerate" and "everypony" were once again never used seriously, it was dripping in so much irony that you could have drowned in it.

Call me an old purist, but now that the fandom is trying to take itself seriously, it's become an even bigger joke in my eyes. One I'm not sure I want to be part of anymore.

Edit
Just thinking about it, want to know who are actually the most tolerating bronies? The ones who don't take it so seriously, because no matter what anyone drew, wrote or said, even if we didn't like it, we laughed. Now we see the endless streams of hate from those dislike R34, or violence, or shipping, but then it's also these people who will scream the hardest "Love and tolerate" to defend themselves. Reminds me a lot of republicans and free speech when I think about it.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

I stopped enjoying thing X because i do not care for people who also enjoy thing X thus i can no longer find joy from experiencing thing X. All my opinions on things i liked are based on the actions and personalities of those who also like them because i am a democracy and have no will of my own to like anything independent from other people.

/sarcasm

I dont really understand how a community can make you stop liking a TV show anymore than the book club can make me no longer enjoy my favourite book.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

I like the show, but I do agree that large portions of the fandom have gone a little... rogue? I guess is the right term, or just brain fucked, either way, I don't care.

I have a bunch of friends I know in real life that are bronies and they're awesome people, they're who I hang with most, then again I have an equal if not greater number of friends who don't like the show, and I respect that, and they respect me.

Some of the bronies I've witnessed are so zealous about trying to "convert" people that it makes me feel ill, honestly, if someone doesn't wanna watch something they don't have to, if they don't like it, they don't have to...

I distance myself from those people, as I feel that maybe ostracization to some extent might convince them that trying to force it down people's throats isn't the best course of action.

However if I continue to hang with bronies and watch the show it kinda makes me into one by proxy and association, I can't quit that, so yeah call me what you want.

 

[not_you]

*snip*

Basically everything mentioned in original post...
The fact that the "new wave" of bronies couldn't follow the original "love and tolerate all things" message made me sad...

As much as I enjoy saying that I'm part of the community, I hate being labelled as a brony purely because of those who can't understand that their view of things isn't the correct one...

*sigh*

But with S3 on the horizon, I see the community growing, which is a plus, I guess... But the number of intolerable members are sure to grow once more...

OT: I am a fan, watch the show, but not many people I know RL know this, since they've been approached and shouted at by the 'lesser' bronies purely because they didn't want to watch it...

 

[The Ubermensch]

I still consider my self to be a brony... a /b/rony if you will; I have a high tolerance for scat porn.

I am a troll, I will admit this openly. Not all bronys are trolls but a far few of them are. Indeed through miss understandings or the fact that some people have the innate ability to let irony fly right over there heads I have probably contributed to the negative stereotypes that are associated with the brony community. However I do try to use my trolling for good.

Why I haven't moved away from the group as they have become increasingly like the furry fandom is because... well all popular culture things end up like the furry fandom at.their.best. The community, whilst consisting of a fair few whiny douche bags (Of which I could be associated with) has a positive core.

For example, republicans and democrats have politicians at their cores, working cohorts have money and car fags HAVE FUCKING CARS at their core. At the brony communities core you have a group of really creative and talented people. If I need a label to define myself, it might as well be one with a solid core... I'm not sure if that makes any sense... but yeah

I try to use my trolling power for good, bringing people to self realisation of their own flaws as they point out those of others. More so its directed at "New Wave" (I really like your mane) bronys

For my flaws please watch Evangelion (I'm Shinji's dad)

 

[excalipoor]

Bronies did indirectly ruin season 2 for me, altough I've never mingled with the community. By Lesson Zero it was pretty clear that things have changed. Now, I can't say for certain if season 2 was closer to Faust's original vision (what with the E/I requirement being gone), or if the change in tone is due to Studio B becoming aware of the brony community, but either way the show did lose some of its sheen for me.

I'm still looking forward to season 3, but season 2 just wasn't the same. Feels like there's so much "this is for you! *nudge* *nudge* *wink* *wink*" going on. I liked it better when they weren't so desperate to cater to me.

 

[The Ubermensch]

Bronies did indirectly ruin season 2 for me, altough I've never mingled with the community. By Lesson Zero it was pretty clear that things have changed. Now, I can't say for certain if season 2 was closer to Faust's original vision (what with the E/I requirement being gone), or if the change in tone is due to Studio B becoming aware of the brony community, but either way the show did lose some of its sheen for me.

I'm still looking forward to season 3, but season 2 just wasn't the same. Feels like there's so much "this is for you! *nudge* *nudge* *wink* *wink*" going on. I liked it better when they weren't so desperate to cater to me.

Yeah... I do have to agree with that. I mean the odd Easter Egg was good but "read it and weep" was such a metaphor for the brony fandom, and is my least liked episode. John De Launce was good though... right? Though lesson Zero was very similar to Party of One as far as tone.

I AGREE WITH YOUR COMMENT BUT DISAGREE WITH YOUR EXAMPLE

Incidentally, same is true of Stand Alone Complex

 

[chiggerwood]

I've never understood the MLP fandom. I've seen a couple of episodes of the show, and a collection of clips, but to me it's just OK. A regular kids show above par for what's usually thrown at kids today. I don't know why, maybe it's because I'm an Invader Zim fan and all the pretty, bouncy, colorful pony shit clashes with that, but I could never get into the show... OK it made me want to cough up a lung and then strangle myself with aforementioned lung, BUT! for a while I genuinely liked the MLP fandom, they seemed like an OK bunch of people. They were nice, and polite, hell at one point I actually had admiration for their character. I could tolerate some ponies if it made the internet a kinder place, and then, I'll be damned if I know what happened, but they started to turn into a bunch of neck bearded, sexually confused, overly defensive, socially retarded, creeps who would attack anyone who said anything negative about their insane obsession. Seriously when you feel that you need to make a documentary to justify your obsession with a kids show, you need to step back and reexamine your life because shit's gone wrong.

 

[excalipoor]

John De Launce was good though... right?

My only gripe with The Return of Harmony is that it should've been a three parter! The whole shebang just felt so rushed to me.

Though lesson Zero was very similar to Party of One as far as tone.

Party of One was pretty dark for sure, but I thought Lesson Zero took it to another level. PoO (wat?) showed Pinkie to be insecure and paranoid, while Twilight in Lesson Zero was just batshit insane. I remember watching the episode and thinking, "I can't believe they actually did that!" It didn't help that it came right after The Return of Harmony, which was surprisingly dark in its own right.

Incidentally, same is true of Stand Alone Complex

Care to elaborate? To be honest, I'm not a big fan of 1st gig at all, I just really like the logo...

Seriously when you feel that you need to make a documentary to justify your obsession with a kids show, you need to step back and reexamine your life because shit's gone wrong.

If you're talking about the BronyCon doc, the only affiliation it has with bronies is that it was funded by them. The producers are independent film makers and members of the show's cast.

 

[The Ubermensch]

Incidentally, same is true of Stand Alone Complex

Care to elaborate? To be honest, I'm not a big fan of 1st gig at all, I just really like the logo...

*Fanboy rage building*

... Its so off topic but 1st gig was a lot more conceptual than 2nd gig, which was more character driven.

I can get why someone would prefer 2nd gig but I thought Laughing Man was better. Personal opinion though.

 

[templar1138a]

I still watch the show and view some fan content. However, I stopped calling myself a Brony some time ago. After the Derpy fiasco, the unreasonable number of bronies who thought the season 2 finale was awesome as opposed to a poorly thought-out end to a disconnected season, and the general hypocritical hatred towards cloppers, non-bronies, and any bronies who disagreed on anything, I realized there wasn't anything special about the My Little Pony fandom.

It's just like any other fandom. It's full of batshit, obsessive assholes who think they're better than everyone else because of what they like and how they like it. "Brony" used to mean something to me. Now it's just a term for overly-defensive pricks who lash out because they're insecure about the fact that they watch a show for little girls, even if they've "come out."

 

[Piorn]

I still watch the show and like it, but I try to avoid the fandom for the most part. Also, seeing the irrational hate ponies receive nowadays, nobody needs to know I watch it, anyway.